Ist time out

[moth]

Hi we are going to do are first week on a 69ft boat , and think of doing the warickshire ring from rugby, do you think this is possible to do in a week, for first timmers.

where would be good to stop for overnight moorings.

[bottle]

Hi Moth

 

May I suggest you buy a guide (Nicholson or Pearson), according to Pearson the Warwickshire ring is a total of 54 hours via Kings Norton or 47hours if you take the 'short' cut via Catherine De Barnes.

 

You say you have a week which is effectively six days therefore you would need to travel for nine hours per day on the 'long' route or 7hrs 50 mins. on the 'short' route.

 

Personally I would think that nearer six hours per day would be enough for a first timer have you thought of a 'there and back' journey, this might seem that you have been one way why come back over the same ground but a canal is always 'different' on the return trip.

 

You could start 'The Ring' and see how you get on. If by the the end of the third day you do not think you can make it right round you can turn back.

 

Most of all enjoy

[moth]

Thanks for your quick reply, I think the longer route sound better, because we would be missing out the ruff part, the only reason I would like to do a ring is that you are not coving the same ground. there will be 4 adults and to kids 13 and 11 years old, so we should be able to get some earley starts.

When we first looked at route we were going to do the rugby to banbury

[bottle]

Hi

 

If you have that many crew then traveling for nine hours a day is not impossible but you will not be able to stop to see the 'sights' that often and on the up side the 'young ones' will be so tired after all the locks they have done you will get quiet evenings

 

Do be careful as this is your first trip you may catch the bug and be trapped like the rest of us

[moth]

I think you may be right. we have been looking at canel boats a lot as we have a touring caravan and take are bikes and cycle the tow paths talking to all the crew's , it seems such fun!

[Keeping Up]

With a big and active crew like that you should be able to do the ring in a week (nearly 6 and a half days). Personally I prefer the Stratford canal route but I did the Knowle route last year and found it to be much better than it used to be (and I hear they've dredged it a bit this winter).

 

As for stopping places, you can stop literaly anywhere on that route except that like most cities Birmingham is fine in the centre but a bit risky in the suburbs. Personally I wouldn't moor between the City centre and Minworth, for example; nor between Kings Norton (or Knowle) and the City Centre.

 

Allan

[Bones]

I would urge you to have a look at the map and anything you might want to have alook at on your journey. Having never been a holiday boater I don't know the enthusiams! Its just so lovely to be out on a boat, and be able to stop in the middle of no-where away from the crowd. Especially when you have found a farmers field and asked in advance if you can stop and play rounders/wide games!!!! That is a wonderful experience.

 

It depends what you want to do. I understand some holiday boaters try and do as much as possible, and forget that stopping where cars can't get to is a lovely part of the holiday, and there are others who just want to see as much as they can as possible.

 

Now I want to go and play rounders......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or rescue (but you need woods for that)

[wrigglefingers]

Ellen and I did the Warwickshire ring when Ellen was seven. We had help from a friend to do Hatton and completed the ring in seven days. It was blinking hard work and we were both exhausted every night. Ellen slept some days inbetween locks. We did it again a year later and took a leisurely eleven days and had a wonderful time. Some of my best photographs came from the second holiday and we had time to go up the Ashby and down the Coventry to the then newly re-opened Coventry basin. Moral; don't rush it and enjoy the fantastic countryside and the interesting industrial archaeology.

 

Jill

[Guest]

Hi we are going to do are first week on a 69ft boat , and think of doing the warickshire ring from rugby, do you think this is possible to do in a week, for first timmers.

where would be good to stop for overnight moorings.

 

Hi Moth,

Dont forget, when you're planning your mileage (9 hours per day, 3.5 mph, 31.5 miles each day etc) you cant maintain the speed all the time. You will be slowing down every time you have to pass moored boats and sometimes they stretch for quite a way, plus the time you spend in queues at locks. Four boats in a queue with the lock having to be filled/emptied each time, 10 or 15 min each, it could take you 40 min or more to get through the queue.

Good advice elsewhere here - after 3 days out, check how far you've gone. If you haven't reached half-way, turn and head back.

Edited March 13, 2006 by Guest

[DaveR]

Last year we were bringing back the Bensham at the end of the year. This involved each weekend doing 30 lock miles a day.

 

OK we are not young anymore but it is knackering.

 

Please don't bite off too much, it would be awful to start doing 30 miles a day only to loose heart half way and be forced to continue working hard. It could ruin the whole experience.

[Keeping Up]

Hi Moth,

Dont forget, when you're planning your mileage (9 miles per day, 3.5 mph, 31.5 miles each day etc) you cant maintain the speed all the time. You will be slowing down every time you have to pass moored boats and sometimes they stretch for quite a way, plus the time you spend in queues at locks. Four boats in a queue with the lock having to be filled/emptied each time, 10 or 15 min each, it could take you 40 min or more to get through the queue.

Good advice elsewhere here - after 3 days out, check how far you've gone. If you haven't reached half-way, turn and head back.

Good advice from Moley.

 

With an energetic crew you will get a reasonably accurate answer if you calculate in lock-miles which confusingly are normally the number of miles plus ONE-HALF the number of locks. By measuring your progress in this way you can see very well how well you are getting on as the half-way point approaches.

 

Personally I've always regarded the Warwick ring as a one-week trip with no problems, though I'm sure the boatyard at Rugby would be happy to advise you. Don't make the mistake we did a few years back when planning a trip that included the Warwick ring (North Stratford route). We counted forwards to see how far we expected to travel each day, and backwards from the end to see how far we needed to travel in order to reach our destination on time. Somehow in this process we managed to count Wednesday twice, once from each end.

 

On the first Wednesday morning we set off from Hockley Heath, suffered an hour wait at the Drawbridge (which needed a software reboot, of all things) and took a stranded boat in tow to Lyons boatyard before making our way into Birmingham. Nearing Kings Norton we were speaking to our daughter on the phone, and as we explained that we would be that night in Birmingham before heading to Curdworth on Wednesday, the penny dropped that the week had unusually only ONE Wednesday in it. So, heading rapidly through Birmingham without stopping, we raced down Farmers Bridge and Aston locks to tie up in "heavy dusk" at Minworth. For just the two of us, 26 miles and 28 locks (plus an hour stoppage) made for one long day - but the next day had to be just as long to get us back on schedule.

[Janet S]

My advice is go to Benidorm instead! Don't do a canal trip! If you do, you'll be hooked as we were, then you'll be condemned to spend the rest of your life walking along canals, talking about canals, planning canal trips, and sitting on this website reading about canals and hoping the boss doesn't catch you!

 

Have a brilliant time! We did, and we're off again in May.

 

Janet

[Mrs. Mole]

My advice is go to Benidorm instead! Don't do a canal trip! If you do, you'll be hooked as we were, then you'll be condemned to spend the rest of your life walking along canals, talking about canals, planning canal trips, and sitting on this website reading about canals and hoping the boss doesn't catch you!

 

Have a brilliant time! We did, and we're off again in May.

 

Janet

Ring any bells Moley

[Moley]

Nah, sounds utter tosh to me

 

(and I think Keeping Up has got his wires crossed too)

[Keeping Up]

Nah, sounds utter tosh to me

 

(and I think Keeping Up has got his wires crossed too)

Fingers, eyes, T's, legs, roads, straps, maybe even bridges I haven't yet come to, yes, but NEVER the wires. I'm absolutely Positive that I'd never be that Negative.

 

Allan (ex Electrical Engineer)

[DHutch]

Please don't bite off too much...

............................................................It could ruin the whole experience.

Diffrent people are diffrent.

 

Personaly, i like that chalenge covering X distance in a week.

- In emilyanne if where "going somwhere" we can can easly do 30 lockmiles a day with just me and my grandad.

- Also, my understading of lockmiles is the number of locks, plus the number of miles, therefore 18miles, 12locks, would be 30lockmiles.

 

 

Daniel

[Moley]

I think we did 30+ lock miles the day we did Heartbreak Hill, 20 to 25 is easy, but 30 is going some, and I wouldn't want to aim for that every day.

 

Set a moderate schedule. If you're ahead of that you can always cruise on a bit then come back. We planned to do the 4 Counties in 13 days but realised after 6 that we could finish in 10, so extended 1.5 days down the S&W.

 

 

(Incidentally, what I meant above, I think Keeping Up has given me credit for something someone else said)

[Keeping Up]

Diffrent people are diffrent.

 

Personaly, i like that chalenge covering X distance in a week.

- In emilyanne if where "going somwhere" we can can easly do 30 lockmiles a day with just me and my grandad.

- Also, my understading of lockmiles is the number of locks, plus the number of miles, therefore 18miles, 12locks, would be 30lockmiles.

Daniel

It 'ALWAYS' used to be "locks divided by 2, plus miles" but was referred to as lock-miles for convenience. Increasingly nowadays people seem to be taking the term "lock-miles" literally. I normally reckon to cruise at about 3 mph (ie 20 minutes per mile) but I don't expect to take more than 10 minutes per lock on averag especially with a crew to set it for mee. Obviously you get variations (cruising slowly past moored boats and flying along the deep wide stretches, and taking longer to get through an isolated broad lock than through a mid-flight narrow lock) but that average generally holds good most of the time.

 

And yes Moley I had my eyes crossed that time - I saw the "Winner" banner on Wyeman's icon, and mentally crossed it with when that applied to yours, so apologies to both of you or just to whichever one feels most offended for being mistaken for the other.

 

Allan

[nbtafelberg]

Yes

 

I'm addicted, waterways world, everything I even live on the boat and LOVE it. I love roses and castles, can't get enough painting (perhaps craftmaster flat colour fumes are good for you???)...

 

Perhaps I need help?

[Bones]

Number of locks + number of miles divided by 3 = number of hours.

I find I spend anything from 10minutes to 30minutes or so in a lock - depending on where it is, and how many people are waiting.

[DHutch]

It 'ALWAYS' used to be "locks divided by 2, plus miles" but was referred to as lock-miles for convenience.

 

I normally reckon to cruise at about 3 mph (ie 20 minutes per mile) but I don't expect to take more than 10 minutes per lock on averag.

Fair enough.

- We also reckon to that speed when we're traveling. Possably slightly less when its just me an my grandad. Working a 10hour day you soon get about.

 

 

Daniel

[moth]

Thankyou for all your posts, after reading them all we have decided to go for a shorter one, so that if we see somewhere nice we can pull over and have time to look without go behind.

If we are ahead by the middle of the week we can go further before turning round, this is the route we have come up with.

Rugby to banbury route. by going there and back we can ajust it acording to time, on a ring we dont have any choise and have to keep moving.

We think the route we have choosen has some nice overnight stops (at pubs)

 

Thankyou for all your posts, after reading them all we have decided to go for a shorter one, so that if we see somewhere nice we can pull over and have time to look without go behind.

If we are ahead by the middle of the week we can go further before turning round, this is the route we have come up with.

Rugby to banbury route. by going there and back we can ajust it acording to time, on a ring we dont have any choise and have to keep moving.

We think the route we have choosen has some nice overnight stops (at pubs)

Edited March 13, 2006 by moth

[moth]

Right here goes, the route

day 1 Napton-Hillmarton 4hrs 0 locks overnight stop at pub

Day 2 Hillmarton-newbold tunnel-Braunton 8 hrs 6 locks over night stop pub

Day 3 Braunston-fenny compton 8hrs 9 locks overnight stop pub

Day 4 Fenny compton-Banbury7hrs 12 locks overnight stop pub

day 5 Banbury- Anyo 3 hrs after speeding the day in Banbury 4 locks overnight stop pub

Day 6 Anyo-cropedy 5 1/2 hrs 8 locks

Day 7 Cropedy- napton 7 1/2 hrs 18 locks

Day 8 home.

What do you think?

[bottle]

Hi Moth

 

I am thinking this is a hire boat, you may well get in four hours on the first day if you are lucky and the boat is ready, there may be a delay (boat returned late, maintenance required).

 

On the last day the boat usually has to be returned by 10 am if not before, so you have to be very close the night before.

 

Of course if you get the bug and buy your own

[moth]

Yes this is a hire boat, we will be spending are last night back at the marina, so we are not late and can pack that morning. like you say boat might be late ,I dont want to be late for the next person.